Table of Contents

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Comparative Survey of Freedom, 1972-1976 (ICPSR 7555)

Principal Investigator(s):
Gastil, Raymond D.

Summary:

This data collection contains information gathered in five
annual surveys that assessed the degree of freedom in 218 nations and
dependencies from 1972-1976. The study was carried out under the
auspices of Freedom House, New York City. The number of cases with
data varies from year to year, due to annexation, amalgamation, or the
addition of further territories to the roster. The data include
assessments of the political and civil rights of the general
population (using a seven-point scale, i.e., 1, most freedom, to 7,
least freedom), an overall freedom rating for the country (using a
three-point scale, i.e, free, partly free, and not free), and the
direction in which this rating appeared to be moving. Surveys after
1972 have added variables that indicate whether a change in the
evaluation since the previous survey was due to internal events in the
country or to new information about existing conditions. Before 1973,
only the presence or absence of change is noted. Thereafter, an
increase in the number of coding categories enables the direction of
the change to be recorded. The 1976 data include four additional
variables applicable to 142 cases and provide information about the
system of government and the economy of most of the nations
studied. The rationale used in assigning the seven categories on the
continuum of most to least freedom can be found in Appendix III of the
codebook, including which civil and political rights were considered
critical in order for a nation to garner each rating.

This data collection contains information gathered in five
annual surveys that assessed the degree of freedom in 218 nations and
dependencies from 1972-1976. The study was carried out under the
auspices of Freedom House, New York City. The number of cases with
data varies from year to year, due to annexation, amalgamation, or the
addition of further territories to the roster. The data include
assessments of the political and civil rights of the general
population (using a seven-point scale, i.e., 1, most freedom, to 7,
least freedom), an overall freedom rating for the country (using a
three-point scale, i.e, free, partly free, and not free), and the
direction in which this rating appeared to be moving. Surveys after
1972 have added variables that indicate whether a change in the
evaluation since the previous survey was due to internal events in the
country or to new information about existing conditions. Before 1973,
only the presence or absence of change is noted. Thereafter, an
increase in the number of coding categories enables the direction of
the change to be recorded. The 1976 data include four additional
variables applicable to 142 cases and provide information about the
system of government and the economy of most of the nations
studied. The rationale used in assigning the seven categories on the
continuum of most to least freedom can be found in Appendix III of the
codebook, including which civil and political rights were considered
critical in order for a nation to garner each rating.

Access Notes

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access to these data files.

Universe:
A total of 218 of the world's nations and dependencies of
the world.

Data Type(s):
aggregate data

Data Collection Notes:

The data for five years have been combined to
produce one continuous record for each country. Entities that were
added to the list or removed from it have been assigned the missing
data code for the years that are not relevant. This is somewhat
misleading in the case of Vietnam, which upon unification resumed the
original code assigned to it before division. Consequently, 815
(Vietnam) has the missing data code for 1972-1975, whereas 816 (North
and South Vietnam) are so coded for 1976. The missing data code means
"not applicable" rather than "unknown," and corresponds to the absence
of information in the original data. "No Change" was coded blank in
the original, which leads to ambiguity in the case of countries that
appear for the first time, and should presumably be coded "not
applicable" for all variables dealing with "change since previous
survey." Some, however, show directional change, and the remainder
have therefore been coded "no change."